Butter Basted Cast Iron Seared Bone In Ribeye

Ingredients:

10-12 oz (or more) bone in ribeye

3 tbsp unsalted butter

3 cloves garlic

1 sprig fresh rosemary

2 tbsp kosher salt

1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Tools needed:

Cast iron pan

Stove top

Paper towels

Spoon

Cutting board

Sharp knife

How to make it:

Take steak out of packing, pat dry with paper towel. Season generously with kosher salt on both sides. Let steak rest on a plate on the countertop to come up to room temperature (about 45 minutes to 1 hour). This is a quick dry brine. Pan searing a room temperature steak will allow us to get a perfect sear with a beautiful caramelized crust on the outside of the steak.

Once the 45 minutes to 1 hour is up, heat up the cast iron pan on high heat until it starts to smoke. Pat steak dry again and season with black pepper on both sides. Cast iron retains heat well and is my pan of choice for pan searing steaks. It gives the meat a great flavor and it helps the steak get that caramelized crust on the outside I’m looking for.

Add 2 tbsp oil to the pan, slowly drop in the steak setting it down away from you. Be very careful with this so you don't splatter yourself with hot oil.

For a steak that is 1 inch thick, I sear it for 2-1/2 minutes on both sides for a medium rare. This is a ball park timeframe as your steak could be a different thickness and your pan may be a different temperature than mine.

On the second side after 30 -45 seconds, add the butter, garlic and rosemary. Let butter melt, tilt the pan to pool the butter and start basting the steak with the melted butter. The garlic and rosemary flavor the butter, therefore flavoring the meat. I place the rosemary and garlic on top of the steak while basting, flavoring the steak even more. Once the second 2-1/2 minutes is done, pull streak from pan and rest on a plate for 10 minutes. Pour the butter on top of the steak along with the rosemary and garlic as it rests. There is a carryover cooking that will happen. Generally, the temperature will increase abut 5 degrees. I aim to pull the steak out of the pan at around 125 degrees F. The temperature is checked by inserting a thermometer in the thickest part of the steak. By the time the steak rested and the temperature has stabilized, it was around 132 f…which is a good medium rare. Check the steak temperatures below for temperature ranges that differ for medium rare. I suggest adding 45 second intervals per side of the steak to increase the internal temperature for a more cooked steak. A rare steak can cook 1-1/2 minutes per side. Again, this is a ball park timeframe and checking the internal temperature of the steak with a thermometer is recommended.

120-125=rare

130-135=medium rare

140-145 medium

150-155 medium well

160-165 well done

Ribeye steaks are great with mashed potatoes (or roasted) and baked asparagus. Top it with some spicy habanero butter for an added kick. Or, with some roasted garlic compound butter if you don’t like spicy!

Enjoy!

-Logan